


Some things never change

by berryblonde



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: A Bit of Fluff, Gen, Humor, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I've had a blast writing this ngl, M/M, Post-Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), tina chris and gavin are little shits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-07-01 02:19:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15764610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/berryblonde/pseuds/berryblonde
Summary: The first lesson every new beat cop, patrol officer, hell even police assistant android learned when starting out at the DPD was clear, so simple and yet... unusual to someone who has never spend a day in their life in said precinct.Do not, under any circumstances, mess with Gavin Reed.





	Some things never change

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing is basically a collaboration between me and [Dim](https://deep-in-mind67.tumblr.com) as they supplied me with most of the ideas. Please go and give Dim some love, they're an amazing artist and just awesome in general.  
> This fic was such a nice break from all the angst I've been writing lately, and I hope you guys have as much fun reading as I had writing haha

The first lesson every new beat cop, patrol officer, hell even police assistant android learned when starting out at the DPD was clear, so simple and yet... unusual to someone who has never spend a day in their life in said precinct.

Do not, under any circumstances, mess with Gavin Reed.

The Detective's appearance alone would have made any rookie hesitant in even trying to mess with the man, the scar on his nose and the ever present look of "fuck you in particular" in his eyes enough to make most of the younglings wary.

If it hadn't been for the stories, most of them would probably have been fine just avoiding the constantly angry looking Detective, speaking as respectfully as possible when forced to converse with Gavin Reed

But, you see, they hadn't been that lucky, oh no.

When a new batch of rookies arrived in September 2039, freshly graduated from the police academy, Officer Tina Chen, a soft-spoken, pretty woman that hushed whispers were gushing over when they thought no one could hear them, had sat them down, a serious look on her otherwise friendly face.

“You see that man over there?” she had asked them, discreetly pointing at a figure lounging in his chair, feet high up on his desk, eyes trained on his terminal despite his casual pose.

The rookies all collectively nodded, curious.

“You never, ever, dare to cross him. Don’t even think about it.” The woman in front of them looked visibly distressed, a shudder running through her body.

“None of us know why he’s still working for the precinct, but…” her head turned, frantically searching the room for any signs of eavesdroppers.

“There are rumors that even the captain is too scared to go against him. I… I certainly am.” She leaned forward, as if she was letting everyone in on a secret, and from the seriousness of the matter she probably was. Officer Chen looked terrified, the bubbly woman they had witnessed joking around with the old Lieutenant completely gone.

“I don’t need my arm broken another time.” One of the younglings turned her head, a short, dark-skinned girl, trying to get a proper glimpse at the man Officer Chen seemed to be so scared of.

As if the Detective had felt her eyes wander towards him he glanced up, locking eyes with the girl, gaze cold and unforgiving, before his lips stretched into a wicked smirk.

The rookie in question quickly averted her eyes, visibly shaken.

Officer Chen looked horrified, shushing the nervous whispers that emerged from the group in front of her.

“Don’t. Don’t even try and look at him, I’ve seen someone getting punched straight in the face because they looked at him the wrong way. Just… just avoid him as much as you can, that’s the best any of us can do.”

Her voice was still low, careful not to be overheard. She let her gaze wander over the rookies for a second, trying to put on an encouraging smile despite her own disturbed appearance.

“N-Nevertheless, I hope you guys enjoy your time with us, if you ever need anything you know where to find me. The break room is over there, and please remember what I just told you, alright? We don’t need another… incident.” With that, she walked away to her own desk, and no one dared to even think about what ominous accident she might be referring to.

 

~

 

“Tina, you were fucking awesome!” Gavin’s words were barely understandable, his arm pressed into his stomach as he was doubling over in laughter.

They were standing behind the precinct after Gavin had excused himself for a smoke break, not without sending a warning glance towards the rookies.

A proud smile formed on Tina’s lips. “I know.”

A light slap against her arm made her yelp playfully, swatting the Detective’s arm away. “Don’t be so cocky, Chen.” Gavin grinned.

“Hey, have you even seen my performance? That was Broadway level, man, I should’ve become an actor instead of being a Police Officer.” She stated, trying to make a serious face before cracking up once more.

“Yeah, yeah, we all know you’re the best drama queen we could have.”

Scaring the rookies was a game they played every year, ever since one of them stated that Gavin looked “kinda scary” over ten years ago.

They’d had a lot of time to perfect the act, and almost everyone in the precinct was in on it and played along by now.

“It’s a shame Chris wasn’t here to witness it, I definitely beat his show from last year.” Tina boasted, clearly enjoying herself.

“And that glare? Holy shit, all the practice we did was so worth it. Even I could feel it running down my back cold when you shot her that look, poor girl’s definitely terrified.”

Gavin couldn’t help another fit of laughter escaping his lips. This was gonna be so good this year, he thought, a wide grin splitting up his face.

“What’s next?” he asked, curious.

“Oh, I have the perfect idea.”

 

~

 

“Oh god, no, no, no, put that back!” An agitated Chris Miller almost shouted when Eric tried to take one of the mugs from the break room to make himself some coffee.

Their first week had been difficult enough, adjusting to the new work environment as well as the constant fear of Gavin Reed.

The man looked terrifying enough as it was, but after what Officer Chen had told them when they first arrived no one dared to even think about messing with the man.

On top of that, he was still trying to get over the fact that they would be working in the same place as Connor, the android that had single-handedly led an army of his kind to aid the revolution, the deviant hunter turned deviant.

And the only person who didn’t seem to be afraid of Detective Reed, greeting him whenever he walked into the precinct, right behind Lieutenant Anderson most of the time.

In a way, that made Connor just as scary.

Eric turned around to face Officer Miller, whom he had found out was a good friend of Officer Chen and seemed to greatly care for the younglings, always making sure they didn’t get into harm’s way.

That is, Detective Reed’s way.

“Don’t use that mug!” Officer Miller’s voice was laced with fear as he looked straight at the young man.

Eyes wide, Eric swallowed. “Why… why not?” he asked, almost 100% sure that it had to do something with a certain Detective.

“That mug is Reed’s favorite, the last… the last time someone tried to use it… No, no it’s better if we stop here, I’m sorry I didn’t want to scare you.” He smiled apologetically, and Eric could feel his heart sink.

“Officer Miller”, he began, cautiously. Curiosity killed the cat, but he couldn’t help it.

“What happened last time?”

“Nothing! At- At least nothing anyone could link back to Detective Reed. The Officer that had tried to use it asked to be transferred ages ago, I- I’m sure he had nothing to do with it.” Officer Miller’s eyes flicked from one side of the room to the other, seemingly terrified of the idea that someone could walk in on their little exchange,

The lump in Eric’s throat got bigger, and he slowly put the mug back where he had taken it from, scared to drop it but wanting to get away from the object as fast as he could.

It was a cute mug, funny in his opinion, “Meow, Meow, Motherfucker” written on it in big letters, cat ears and tail drawn next to the writing on the otherwise white porcelain.

Knowing the story behind it, however, quickly changed his mind and as soon as the mug was safely standing in the cupboard he let go of it as if his fingers had been burned.

When he turned around, Officer Miller was gone.

 

~

 

The young man had hoped for a normal day after the “break room incident” as he had dubbed it when telling his friends about the occurance, but apparently he, or maybe all of them, had done something terrible in their past lives.

Just as their shift came to an end, Jones, the girl who had been brave enough to look at Detective Reed the first time they had been made aware of how terrifying the man was, found a sticky note, taped to the empty donut box in the break room.

“It takes about as much force to bite a finger off as it takes to take a bite out of a carrot ;)” was written on it in scribbly handwriting, and despite the fact that there was no name on the small piece of paper everyone suspected whom it was from.

Gavin Reed.

Eric wondered who even allowed the man on the force.

That first note was only the beginning, however, and more and more began to appear all over the place, seemingly materializing overnight.

When one of the rookies, Eric couldn’t remember his name and he didn’t really care, had gone up to Officer Chen to ask her about it the woman had looked incredibly uncomfortable, quickly telling him to ignore it because no one could do anything about them. And to be careful.

The thought about how the Detective had acquired such a knowledge terrified Eric and he preferred not to dwell on it too much.

Each and every one of these notes was as cryptic and vaguely threatening to as the first one.

“Twenty-eight stab wounds!” had been taped directly to the door of one of the interrogation rooms, given Smith a good fright when he walked past it.

“It takes one shot to kill :)” was found on the Detective’s favorite mug, and the thought that maybe, just maybe, Reed somehow knew about Eric’s attempt to use it scared the young more than he would have liked to admit.

One of the scariest had probably been a pink one in the men’s bathroom that had been found by parker, frantically running towards the group as they had been hanging out in the break room, voice trembling.

“Salt water works wonders on decaying human flesh”.

The next morning, the mug Eric had almost used just a few days ago appeared on Barden’s desk, traces of black coffee still left in it.

Upon seeing it the young girl almost freaked out, running for the break room to wash it and put it back where it belonged before Detective Reed strolled in.

From then on the sticky notes stopped, but every morning the mug would stand on another desk, and despite the fact that Detective Reed never caught any of them cleaning it, he always watched the one on whose desk it had been found with a knowing glare for the whole day, occasionally smirking like a demon that had just descended from hell whenever he caught them looking at him.

Eric was beginning to seriously regret choosing said precinct for his field training.

 

~

 

“The sticky notes are a new thing, aren’t they?” Chris asked as the three of them sat in Gavin’s apartment, Gilbert strolling around their feet and rubbing against their legs as they sat on his old couch, each of them with a box of Chinese take-out in their hands.

“Yup!” Tina exclaimed gleefully.

“And they’re all things Gavin actually said at crime scenes or whatever, well except for the stab wounds one.” She giggled, elbowing Gavin in the ribs.

“Our boy here’s got a weird sense of humor, and Connor supplied me with all of these. He seems to be torn whether he should find Gavin’s stupid jokes amusing or strangle him for that.” She giggled.

“Well, Connor can choke me any fucking day.” Gavin smirked, leaning back into the couch.

He frowned in disgust when a piece of cooked vegetable hit his face.

“Dude, gross, too much information. We seriously don’t need to know what you and Connor do in your free time.” Chris complained.

The only response he got from Gavin was an amused chuckled as he picked up the broccoli that had assaulted his face and threw it into his own, now empty, take-out box.

“Speaking of Connor, where is he? Aren’t you two usually glued together by the hip as soon as work is over?”

Gavin’s face flushed red, and Tina just giggled again.

“He’s with fucking Anderson. His old man apparently thinks he should spend some time at home at least once a weak.” Gavin complained, visibly annoyed at his boyfriend’s absence.

“Ohhh, someone’s clingy!” Tina shouted, laughing at Gavin’s expression.

“Am not!” the other retorted, Chris letting out a small snort in the background.

Some things never changed, and his friends being a pain in the ass was one of them.

 

~

 

Week two. He could do this, Eric told himself as he entered the precinct on Monday morning, 9 a.m. sharp.

All he had to do was wait for Detective Reed and give him the damned paperwork he had been working on all weekend, surviving on energy drinks and coffee.

He was absolutely terrified of the idea of having to speak to Detective Reed more than once because he made a silly, stupid mistake somewhere.

His knuckles were white from the tight grip he held the papers in, sitting down at one of the “rookie tables” as they had been dubbed by Detective Collins, anxiously glancing towards the door again and again.

Slowly his fellow trainees trickled in, as well as a few other Officers. No sign of Detective Reed.

The endless waiting only served to make Eric even more nervous than he already was, and when Lieutenant Anderson waltzed in approximately an hour after the young man himself had first arrived, he made a decision.

Lieutenant Anderson may be grumpy and a bit scary, but he was nowhere near as terrifying as Detective Reed.

Trying to appear as confident as possible he stood up and marched over to Lieutenant Anderson’s desk, surprised to find the man’s android partner not with him.

“E-Excuse me?” he spoke up, cursing the tremor in his voice.

“What can I do for ya, kid?” the Lieutenant asked him, not smiling but not appearing unfriendly either.

“Can… Can you maybe hand this paperwork over to Detective R-Reed?”

Eric held out the stack of paper he had previously cradled in his arms.

“I was supposed to give them to him b-but he isn’t here yet and I’m… I’m a bit scared of him to be honest.” He spoke the last part quickly, wanting this to be over as fast as possible.

Lieutenant Anderson looked at him for a few seconds, seemingly contemplating, before he shook his head.

“I’m sorry kid, but I ain’t risking that. Still got the scar from the stiches I had to get last time I bothered the asshole on a bad day, and if he’s not here yet he’s certainly having one.

I’m afraid you’re on your own here.”

Every tiny bit of hope Eric had had in him left his body at once.

“His desk is over there, by the way. Maybe you can get away with just dropping it off, no need to actually talk with the fucker.”

Eric nodded, eagerly thanking the Lieutenant.

Maybe he would survive this day.

 

Turns out, Detective Reed didn’t seem to have a problem with Eric dropping off the papers instead of handing them to him directly, only giving him a knowing smirk when he eventually strolled in around 11 a.m.

The curious part, however, had been the person directly following the Detective.

Connor had been right there by his side, joking and laughing and, to everyone’s horror, seemingly even flirting with the man.

Sure, androids couldn’t feel pain and Eric still wasn’t sure if they feared death the way humans did, but Connor was one brave man if he actually dared to get this close to the Detective the whole precinct seemed to be terrified of.

Not that Detective Reed seemed to reciprocate the weird affection, constantly rolling his eyes and calling the other by crude nicknames.

Yes, Eric thought, Connor was definitely the bravest man he had ever seen, android or not.

 

~

 

They all had thought the worst was over after the sticky notes had stopped and the mug stayed in the cupboard like it should and the worst they got from Reed were smirks and glares from across the room. The man seemed to always know when one of them was looking at him, but the whole situation had become more bearable.

Until today.

Eric had been sitting around with Jones and Suhani, discussing their plans for the weekend when Detective Gavin practically stormed into the precinct, face flushed red from anger, Connor following him on the heels.

“Gavin, wait!” Connor shouted, sporting bite marks on his neck, looking clearly rumpled.

Had they been fighting? The question ran through Eric’s head, and with the way the two of them looked it seemed to be the only possible explanation.

Which also meant one thing: Detective Reed fought dirty.

“Fuck you, Connor!” the Detective yelled back, refusing to look at the android. “I fucking told you not to fucking pull that shit again, and what do you do?! Just that! Fucking hell!” he banged his fist onto the table, seemingly unaware of all the eyes that were watching him in sheer terror.

“Next time you won’t get off this fucking easily, dipshit.” He growled, before flipping his middle finger at everyone still staring at him and walking off towards the men’s bathroom.

For a moment everything went quiet, Connor still standing in the doorway, frozen.

Before anyone even had the opportunity to break the silence, the android stormed out of the precinct again, leaving more than a few mouths agape in confusion.

On the other end of the bullpen Hank shook his head. “Show’s over, stop staring at the door like it’s gonna talk. And for fuck’s sake, don’t anger Reed today.”

Eric was sure he wasn’t the only one incredibly curious and confused what the whole ordeal had been about but he was also far too terrified to even dare asking.

He could only guess, but he was sure that the two of them had fought, obviously, and that fact made Gavin Reed even more horrifying.

A man who would beat up an android that had led an army was no one anyone should mess with, as if they hadn’t already known that before.

 

~

 

Gavin sighed contently as he leaned into Connor’s side, both of them curled up on his old, raggedy couch.

The bite marks were still clearly visible on the android’s neck, and Gavin smirked proudly.

“Was that really necessary?” Connor asked him.

Gavin just chuckled, burying his face in his lover’s neck.

“Yep. I told you to go easy on the fucking hickeys, and you didn’t listen. Again. Con, I love you but I don’t need to walk around looking like I’ve been choked half to death.”

“I told you I was sorry.”

“s’ all good.” He grinned, the memory of the previous night still fresh in his mind. He absolutely loved having Connor stay over and scaring the rookies this morning had been a great addition.

Connor just let out a synthetic breath before he rested his own cheek on the top of Gavin’s head. His boyfriend was really something else sometimes.

 

~

 

It was stupid. Dumb, crazy, ridiculous, an immediate death sentence.

That didn’t keep Smith from wanting to actually go through with it, though, and Eric feared for his classmate’s life.

Jones had decided to dare the boy to walk up to Detective Reed and ask him whether or not he could assist him in anything, just to see if the man was actually as scary when they tried to approach him.

Despite everything, none of them had directly spoken to the Detective, and the girl had apparently decided that it was time.

She wasn’t an idiot, however, and had dared the group as a whole, Smith volunteering in the end.

Eric watched in nervous anticipation as the tall, lanky boy walked up to Detective Reed, even from behind they could see his nervous tremor.

Smith came to a halt, and everyone held their breath.

Detective Reed slowly lifted his head before the rookie could even speak up, sending a horrifying glare towards the group watching them closely before turning his attention to Smith.

The atmosphere surrounding those two felt tense enough that it was tangible, silence settling upon them.

Then, the boy turned around, face as white as a sheet and looking ready to throw up.

Detective Reed gave them one last smirk, void of any warmth, before he turned his attention back to his terminal.

“Shit, dude, you okay?” Eric was the first one to speak up, to his own surprise.

“He… you didn’t see it. Those eyes… They’re fucking terrifying, they don’t even look human so up close. And I swear, I fucking swear on my life and everything holy, just when he looked me dead in my own fucking eyes I could hear a fucking gun shot. Just like that.”

 

~

 

When Detective Reed was called into Chief Fowler’s office a few days later, everyone was torn between immense fear and a curious, almost morbid excitement. Would it be a clash of the titans like his fight with Connor had been?

The things between the two had turned back to normal the day after, but the lingering tension drove everyone crazy, anxious for another outburst of violence between the two.

A look of utter annoyance resided on Detective Reed’s face as he walked up into the Chief’s glass cube as many had started to call it, slumping down in the chair opposite of their boss.

To Eric’s, and probably everyone’s surprise, there wasn’t any shouting.

They had been witness to more than one screaming match, often between Chief Fowler and Lieutenant Anderson, but the calm, distant manner the two men spoke with each other seemed almost more dangerous.

Static electricity seemed to fill the air when Gavin walked out, a victorious smirk on his face.

Upon noticing the stares he was still receiving from the crowing of younglings residing near the door, his grin grew wider, just a bit more sadistic.

Eric felt sick to the stomach.

“What?” Gavin asked, raising an eyebrow. “Can't a man tell his captive his demands for the year?”

With a dark chuckle he left for his own desk, leaving behind a group of open-mouthed, terrified to the max rookies.

 

~

 

“So, I got a few days off next week, same days as you. Fowler seemed to like me enough for once, thank fuck.

So, whatcha wanna do on our days off, Con?” Gavin grinned at his boyfriend, and Connor just planted a kiss on his lips, soft but full of longing, a passionate promise.

Gavin pulled away, panting, leaning his forehead against the other’s, smiling happily.

 

~

 

Some things never changed, Eric thought.

They had been here for over three months now, slowly getting used to the feeling of anxiousness and dread that came with every sighting of Gavin Reed. Only a few months left, he told himself, and then he could ask to be working for another precinct.

Today, Detective Reed had seemed even more agitated than usual, cussing out Lieutenant Anderson in his erratic state, pacing through the room before disappearing somewhere.

Eric stopped dead in his tracks as he heard hushed whispers coming from around the corner, curiously peeking his head to try and catch a glimpse of what was going on. The voices sounded too familiar, but that couldn’t be.

Leaned against a wall stood to figures, engulfed in a deep embrace, not seeming to notice anything around them.

The shorter of them was clutching the other’s shirt, head buried in the taller one’s chest.

And sure enough: A quick glance up to their faces confirmed that the two were none other than Detective Reed and Connor, pressed up against each other while Connor soothingly ran his hands across the Detective’s back.

“Sh, Gavin, I’m here, I’m not going to leave, I’m here, it’s going to be alright.” Connor’s voice was full of affection and… love.

Eric felt like he was invading an incredibly intimate moment yet he couldn’t avert his eyes.

“Just… just breathe, just like we’ve practiced, four seconds rule, remember?”

Gavin nodded weakly, his hyperventilating breathing slowly seeming to calm down, grip tightening on the android’s shirt.

“What would I even do without you sometimes, dipshit?” the insult lacked any bite, sounded more like a fond nickname and Eric eventually tore himself away from the display in front of him and walked away, careful not to make any noise as to not disturb them.

Some things never changed, he thought, but maybe, some did.

Maybe Gavin Reed wasn’t as scary as they all thought.

Maybe.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come and talk to me on tumblr [@unacceptable-bisexual](https://unacceptable-bisexual.tumblr.com)!


End file.
